V. О ТАИНСТВЕ ЕЛЕОСВЯЩЕНИЯ

§ 229. Connection with the previous one, the concept of the Blessing of Unction and its names The sacrament of repentance, as a grace-filled healing, is intended for all Christians, but only for the healing of their spiritual illnesses. The sacrament of the consecration of oil is another saving medicine intended for Christians who are sick in the body itself, and has the goal of healing not only their spiritual illnesses, but also their physical ones. The Orthodox Church gives us this concept of the consecration of oil when it says: “The consecration of oil is a sacrament in which, when the body is anointed with oil, the grace of God is invoked on the sick person, healing mental and physical infirmities” (Exp. Chr. Catich. Part 1, Part 10). From ancient times this sacrament was and is called in the Orthodox Church oil 1450, holy oil 1451, oil combined with prayer 1452; in our fatherland - by blessing of oil, anointing with oil, sometimes, in common parlance, unction in accordance with what is usually performed by a council of shepherds. The names given to the consecration of oil in the Roman Church itself, such as: last anointing 1453, sacrament of those departing or dying 1454, are of later origin and, as we will see, are not entirely accurate. § 230. Divine institution of the Sacrament of Anointing and its validity I. The Sacrament of Anointing is spoken of with all clarity in St. Scriptures of St. the Apostle James, when, instructing Christians: is anyone suffering in you? Yes, he prays: is anyone in good spirits? Yes, he sings, directly continues: does anyone hurt in you; let him call the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up: and even if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him (James 5:14.15). From these words both the divine institution of the consecration of oil and its reality as a sacrament are equally revealed. 1. Divine institution. For, on the one hand, it is obvious from the connection of the speech that the apostle does not speak of anointing as something new, which Christians did not know before, but only points them to this medical remedy, as one that already existed and was well known among them, which he commands to use in case of illness. On the other hand, there is no doubt that St. The apostles did not preach anything on their own (Gal. 1:11.12), but taught only what the Lord Jesus commanded them (Matthew 28:20) and what the Spirit of God inspired (John 16:13); it is known that they called themselves servants of Christ and only builders, and not establishers of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1). Next, and the Blessing of Anointing, commanded here by St. Apostle James to Christians, as a mysterious healing for illnesses of body and soul, is commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ himself and the Spirit of God. We do not find it in Scripture when exactly the Lord established this sacrament: since much of what He taught and accomplished on earth has not been committed to writing (John 21:25). But it is most natural to think that this sacrament, like the other two (baptism and repentance), through which remission of sins is granted, the Lord established after His resurrection, when all power in heaven and on earth was given to Him (Matthew 28:18), and when He appeared to the Apostles for fourty days and spoke to them about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3), i.e. dispensation of his St. Church, the most essential part of which is the sacraments. 2. Reality as sacraments. For, in addition to the Divine institution - the first necessary feature of any Christian sacrament, the Blessing of Unction is assimilated in the presented words of the Apostle and two other features: a sensory sign - anointing the sick with oil with prayer, and connected with this sensory sign the supersensible action of grace - the remission of sins and the healing of illnesses. To assume, as the wrong-thinking people assume 1455, that St. James speaks here about an ordinary medical remedy for diseases, or about an extraordinary gift of healing, completely unfairly. The first thought is unfair: because - a) whatever the healing power of oil, it still cannot be called a universal cure for diseases, and St. The Apostle says in general: does anyone hurt you, yes...; b) to anoint a sick person with oil, as an ordinary medicine, most naturally could be his family, or friends, or any doctor to whom Scripture does not prohibit turning (Sirach. 38, 1-5), and St. The Apostle commands precisely: let him call the elders of the church...; c) after this, the healing power is attributed by the Apostle not to oil alone, but mainly to the prayer of the clergy: let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; d) finally, along with the healing of the disease, the remission of sins is combined: and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him, which, without a doubt, no natural healing can grant. The last thought is also unfair. For - a) the gift of miraculous healing was never tied to a specific sensory sign, as is known from the history of the Savior and the Apostles (John 5:8-9; Luke 4:40; Mark 16:18; Acts 3:6; 28:8.9), but St. James points to one specific sign - oil; b) those who possessed this extraordinary gift could only heal illnesses, but did not have the power to forgive sins, granted by the Savior to the Apostles and their successors alone, and St. Jacob here connects the remission of sins with healing from illnesses; c) in the apostolic age believers of every rank and condition possessed extraordinary gifts, including the gift of healing (1 Cor. 12:7-12, etc.); therefore, for miraculous healing from illnesses, one should turn directly to those persons who possessed this gift, no matter what their rank, and St. James commands to call only church elders to perform anointing... It is clear that here we are not talking about miraculous healing, but about one of the sacred rites of the church, which indeed, according to the teaching of the Apostles, not all believers could perform (Heb. 5:4), but only selected ministers of the Church (Eph. 4:11.12) and in particular elders (Acts 20:17.18). II. There should not be the slightest doubt that from the days of the apostles the sacrament of anointing has been performed in the Church: for the Church could not forget, much less violate, the commandment so clearly taught by the Apostle and so saving for believers. But some testimonies of ancient teachers have also been preserved, who either only mention the consecration of oil, based on the words of St. Apostle James, or with some features indicate the consecration of oil as a special secret action, or even directly call it a sacrament. Among the first are the certificates: Origen. Having listed various means for the remission of sins, such as: baptism, martyrdom, tribal love for God, etc., he continues: “there is also a seventh, however heavy and difficult, remission of sins through repentance, when a sinner washes his bed with tears, and his tears are bread day and night (Ps. 41:4), and when he is not ashamed to confess his sin before the priest of the Lord and ask healing, according to the word of the one who said: “Let me confess my iniquity to the Lord, and you have forsaken the wickedness of my heart.” And after this he adds: “in this, what the Apostle James said is also fulfilled: if anyone is hurting in you, let him call the elders of the church and lay hands on him 1456, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up, and even if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him (James 5:14.15)” 1457. Origen does not seem to separate here the consecration of oil from repentance and speaks of one immediately after the other; but this, without a doubt, is because in ancient times the consecration of oil was performed, as it is still performed today, after repentance and after it, as if inseparably. St. Chrysostom. Comparing priests, as spiritual fathers, with carnal parents, he says: “these cannot protect their children from bodily death, they cannot even always expel the invading disease from their body: they, on the contrary, often saved sick souls that were about to perish, either subjecting them to gentle punishment, or keeping them from falling at the very beginning, not only by teaching and instruction, but also with the help of prayers. For they have the power to forgive sins not only when they regenerate us, but also after, as it is said: if anyone is hurting in you, let him call the elders of the church, and let him pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up, and even if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him (James 5:14.15). Judging by the connection of the speech and because the saint spoke about the sacrament of repentance, about the power of priests to bind and decide, a little earlier and with all the detail, for which he cited the words - John. 20, 23; Matt. 18, 18, - we can conclude that here he is talking specifically about the sacrament of consecration of oil, performed only for the sick 1458. St. Cyril, Jerusalem. Armed against magic, he gives the following instruction: “When any part of your body is affected by illness, and if you believe in these words: Lord, Hosts and others, assimilated by God. Scripture to God, as characteristic of His nature: then pronounce these words, sending up prayers for yourself. You will do much better than they (that is, those who turn to sorcery): for you will give glory not to unclean spirits, but to God. At the same time, I will remind you of the words of Divine Scripture: if anyone hurts in you, let him call the elders of the church, and let him pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord... and so on.” 1459. It is wonderful that St. The Father only reminds us of anointing as a remedy that Christians should turn to in case of illness, and, therefore, assumes that this remedy is known and actually used in the Church. The evidence of the second type, which is clearer, includes the words: Victor, an Antioch presbyter (5th century), who, explaining the Gospel story about the Apostles: many sick people were smeared with oil, and those who were healed (Mark 6:13), notes: “what the Apostle James speaks about in his canonical epistle does not differentiate from the present: for he writes: is anyone sick in you... Oil heals illnesses, and is the cause of light and fun. Therefore, the oil used for anointing signifies mercy from God, healing of illness, and enlightenment of the heart. For prayer accomplishes everything, as everyone knows, and oil serves only as a symbol of what is happening.”1460 Caesarius, also a 5th century writer. In one of his words, he instructs Christians: “Whenever any illness befalls, let the sick person accept the body and blood of Christ and anoint his body, so that the words of Scripture may be fulfilled on us: is anyone sick... You see, brethren, whoever in illness resorts to the Church is worthy to receive both the health of the body and the remission of sins” 1461. Finally, they directly call the consecration of oil a sacrament: Innocent I, Pope (5th century). Answering the question: how to understand the words of the Apostle James: does anyone hurt in you... and so on, he says: “they, without a doubt, should be understood about sick believers who can be anointed by St. the oil of chrisma or anointing.” And after that, deciding another question, whether a bishop can perform this anointing, he continues: “there is no reason to doubt the possibility for a bishop of what a presbyter can undoubtedly perform. The Apostle speaks about elders because bishops, being restrained by their studies, cannot go to all the sick... Those undergoing (church) repentance cannot be given this anointing: because it is a sacrament. For to whom are the other sacraments prohibited? How can only one be permitted?” 1462. St. Gregory Dvoeslov. In the book of sacraments, he sets out the very rite of consecration of oil with all the prayers and sacred prayers. songs. Here, during the anointing of the sick St. oil, the priest among other things says: “I will anoint you with St. oil in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, may no unclean spirit be hidden in you..., but may the power of Christ God and the Holy Spirit dwell, so that through the performance of this sacrament (mysterii), - through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. oil and our prayer, with the power of St. Healed by Trinity, he was honored to receive his former and perfect health” 1463. It must be added that the sacrament of anointing is held among other sacraments not only by the Latins, who separated from the Orthodox Church since the ninth century, but also by the Nestorians and Monophysites 1464, excommunicated from it by the third and fourth ecumenical councils in the fifth century. § 231. To whom and by whom can the Sacrament of Anointing be taught? In the same words with which St. The Apostle James testified to the Divine establishment of the sacrament of anointing, together with its reality, he clearly indicated both the persons to whom this sacrament can be taught and the very performers of the sacrament. 1. About persons of the first kind St. Jacob expressed it: is anyone sick (ασθενεί) in you..., and further: the prayer of faith will save the sick one (κάμνοντα). Next, the sacrament of the consecration of oil is intended for Christians only for the sick, and the seriously ill, suffering, and exhausted, as the words used by the Apostle show 1465. But on the other hand, it would be extreme to understand here only the dying or those sick who are already at their very death: for the presented words of the Apostle, both according to their general use in Greek, and according to their use in St. The Scriptures (Matt. 10, 8; 25, 36–39; Luke 4, 40; 7, 10; 9, 2; John 4, 46; 5, 3; 11, 1, etc.) mean not only the dying, but in general the seriously ill, therefore, and those who have hope of recovery. Therefore, the Roman Church acts unfairly when it teaches the sacrament of unction in the form of a farewell message only to those sick who are already at death’s door, which is why it calls it the last anointing, the sacrament of those departing or dying: a custom that, according to the Latins themselves, appeared no earlier than the twelfth century 1466. 2. The Apostle directly calls the elders the performers of the sacrament of the Blessing of Anointing: let him call the elders of the church... This, without a doubt, does not mean that bishops, the immediate successors of the Apostles, and primarily the dispensers of gifts of grace, do not have the power to perform the Blessing of Anointing; but St. James mentions only presbyters because, as Pope Innocent I noted, “bishops, being held back by other occupations, cannot go to all the infirm” 1467. The number of presbyters for performing the anointing of oil, according to the ancient rite of the Orthodox Church, is usually assigned to septenary 1468. But since this number is not defined by the Apostle and does not relate to the essence of the sacrament, then sometimes, according to circumstances, the sacrament was performed by a larger number of priests, and by a smaller number - up to three and up to one 1469. The Roman Church also deviated from the Orthodox Church here, granting the right to consecrate the oil for the sacrament of unction to bishops alone, 1470, without any reason, while the Apostle generally speaks at the consecration of oil about church elders, without even mentioning bishops. § 232. The visible side of the Sacrament of Anointing and its invisible, grace-filled actions I. The visible side of the sacrament of the Blessing of St. The apostle means with the words: let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. That is, this includes: 1) Anointing the sick person with oil or wood oil. This oil is first consecrated by the clergy just before the sacrament is performed. And then they anoint the sick person seven times, one after another, in the form of a cross on the forehead, nostrils, cheeks, lips, chest and hands on both sides. 2) The prayer of faith, said by the clergy, at the very anointing of the sick person. It, according to the order of the Orthodox Church, reads like this: “Holy Father, Physician of souls and bodies, having sent Your only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who heals every ailment and delivers from death, heal Your servant (name) from the bodily infirmities that beset him and revive him through the grace of Your Christ,” and so on. II. The invisible, grace-filled actions of the consecration of oil are: 1) Healing of bodily infirmities. For those who are sick in the body, the sacrament of anointing is actually intended: therefore, the healing of bodily illnesses constitutes the very first blessed fruit of this sacrament, as the Apostle says: if anyone is sick in you, let him call..., and then: and the prayer of faith will save (σώσει) the sick one and the Lord will raise him up (έγερεϊ) (James 5, 14.15). Doesn’t this action always come from the blessing of oil? Is it true. But - a) sometimes it really happens, and the patient little by little recovers completely and rises from the bed of illness. Even more often - b) a dangerously ill person receives at least temporary relief from the disease or reinforcement and stimulation to endure it - and this is also the purpose of the sacrament of consecration of oil: because the verb - εγείρω means not only - I erect, but also excite, animate, reinforce 1471. Sometimes - c) those who receive the sacrament of consecration of oil do not receive healing of illnesses from it, perhaps for the same reason why those who receive the sacrament of the Eucharist, instead of the saving fruits from it, only eat and drink judgment for themselves (1 Cor. 11:29), - i.e. because of his unworthiness, because of the lack of living faith in the Lord Jesus, because of hardness of heart. Finally - d) to wish or demand that every time a person is worthy of the consecration of oil, he is healed of his illnesses, would mean to demand that he does not die at all: and this is contrary to the very plan of our restoration, according to which we need to lay aside this sinful, dead body, so that over time, on the other side of the tomb, we will be clothed with the immortal. Therefore, when approaching the sacrament of the Blessing of Anointing, everyone who is sick must completely surrender to the will of the Lord, who knows better than us who it is more beneficial to send healing from an illness and continue life, and who it is timely to end it (Wisdom 4:11). 2) Healing of spiritual infirmities. Having spoken about the first, direct effect of the consecration of oil on the sick - the healing of his bodily illnesses, St. Jacob adds: And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. With this conditional expression: if he has committed sins, the Apostle obviously assumes that the sick person, before the consecration of oil, had already used another cleansing remedy for sins - the sacrament of repentance: otherwise the Apostle could not imagine the sick person sinless (1 John 1, 8, 10). And to this day in the Orthodox Church, everyone who approaches the sacrament of the Blessing of Oil first cleanses himself of sins through confessing them before the spiritual father 1472. But since during a serious illness, when they usually turn to the sacrament of the Blessing of Anointing, a person is not always able, exhausted in body and soul, to bring true, complete repentance for sins and generally fulfill those conditions that are required of the repentant to receive permission from sins; since, due to weakness, he may not fully confess some sins, while others may not be confessed at all due to oblivion; since some, especially serious sins, even after confession can greatly disturb the conscience of the sick person: then the merciful Lord, in fact, for this kind of sick people, also granted special medicine for the healing of their spiritual infirmities in the sacrament of the Blessing of Oil. Here, for the exhausted patient, a whole council of His servants appears before the Lord, and with the prayer of faith, on behalf of the entire Church, begs Him, the most merciful, to grant the weak man remission of sins and cleanse his conscience from all filth. “We pray to You, they cry among other things, and we ask at this hour: hear our prayer and accept it, like a censer offered to You, and visit Your servant, and if you sin in word, or deed, or thought, or in the night, or in the day, or under a priestly oath, or fall under your own curse...: We ask You and we pray to You, weaken, forgive, forgive, God, despising his iniquities and sins, even those who were in knowledge and ignorance of him "... and so on. 1473. Thus, the remission of sins through the sacrament of the Blessing of Unction, appointed specifically for the seriously ill, is nothing more than the replenishment of the remission of sins in the sacrament of repentance - replenishment not due to the insufficiency of repentance itself to resolve all sins, but due to the weakness of the sick to take advantage of this saving medicine in all its fullness and salvific value. As for the teaching of the Roman Catholics, who look at the consecration of oil primarily as a dying parting word for the sick, strengthening his soul against the horrors of death 1474: this teaching is completely arbitrary. Neither in the commandment of St. St. James the Apostle about the consecration of oil, neither in the rite of consecration of oil, used since ancient times in the Orthodox Church, nor in the ancient rite of the Western Church itself, as set out by Pope Gregory the Great, is there the slightest hint about the dying parting words of a sick person, but speaks only about his healing from illnesses, about the remission of his sins. Moreover, it is well known that the ancient Church universal considered such a dying parting word for believers not the sacrament of consecration of oil, as the Roman Church began to consider in later times, but precisely the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord with the sacrament of repentance preceding it. The proof is in the rules of St. Cathedral 1475 and St. Fathers 1476. If it is ever possible to call the sacrament of anointing by this name (as it is sometimes called among us), then only in those cases when the Lord does not want to raise a sick person from his sick bed, and he soon dies. But even in these cases, the sacrament of the consecration of oil can be called, as it were, a dying farewell for the patient, not in itself and not in its essence, but because it is usually taught to the patient together with the sacrament of repentance and the sacrament of the Eucharist, which in the proper sense constitute a farewell to the afterlife. Ἐλαιον, Hierem. respons. 1 ad August. Confess. c. VIII, in Act. Theolog. Wirtemberg. p. 81, ed. 1584. Αγιον έλαιον, Goar. Eucholog. p. 408; Hierem. loc. cit. p. 79. Εύχέλαιον, Goar. Eucholog. p. 417. Extrema unctio. This name became known after the 12th century. (Mabillon, praef. in saec. 1 Ben edict. n. 98). Sacramentum exeuntium, Cons., Exon. 1287 an. Rosenmuller, in Jacob. With. V, c. 15. Having replaced the words of the Apostle with these words: and let him pray over him, Origen apparently points to one of the rites hitherto observed during anointing, the laying on of priestly hands on the sick (see the rite of the Blessing of Anointing). In quo impletur et illud, quod Jacobus Apostolus dicit... (in Lev. homil. II, n. 4). See Chrysostom. o Priesthood III, n. 6, pp. 59–63, in Russian. translation De adorat. in spirit et verit. lib. VI, Opp. T. 1, p. 211 (Paris. 1638). ... το δέ έλαιον σύμβολον τούτων υπήρχε . Comment. in Mars. VI, 13, in T 1, p. 103, ed. Math. Serm. CCLXV, n. 3, in append. Aug. T. V, cfr. Serm. CCLXXIX, n. 5. Poenitentibus istud infundi non potest, quia genus est sacramentï nam quibus reliqua sacramenta negantur, quomodo unum genus putatur posse concedi? (Epist. ad Decent, c. VIIT, n. 12). Lib. Sacrament., in Opp. T. III, p. 235–237, ed. Maur. Renaudot. Perpet. de la foi, T. V, lib. 5, chap. 1 et suiv.; Asseman. Bibl. Orient. T. III, dissert. de Nest. Syr. p. 276; Marten., yes antiqu. Eccl. ritib. lib. 1, part. II, cap. 7. See άσδενέω, κάμνω in dictionaries - Greek-Russian. Ivashkovsky, Greek-French. Alexandra and others Chardon. Hist. d'extr. onct., in curs. Theolog. compl. T. XX, ed. Migne. Cfr. Walter., Manuel du Droit canon. § 319, Note – e. … quia episcopi occupationibus aliis impediti ad omnes languidos ire non possunt (Epist. ad Decent. c. VIII, n. II). Simeon. Solunsk Ch. 40, in New tablet Part IV, Ch. 14. Right there. Cfr. Martin. de antiqu. Eccl. ritib. 1, p. 7, art. 3. 4. Concil. Trident. Sess. XIV, cap. 1. See έγείρω in Greek. dictionary Ivashkovsky, Alexandra and friend. “At least begin to perform this mystery (blessing of oil), preserve the ancient church custom, O Priest: so that the sick person, before accepting it, will cleanse himself with the mystery of repentance, this is, by confessing his sins, and therefore perform for him the mystery of the blessing of oil” (preface. Blessing of the Unction in the Treasuries of Peter the Mogila). Prayer 7, read. at the Anointing of Unction. Concil. Trident. Sess. XIV, c. 2. In the 13th rule of the First Ecumenical Council it is said: “for those who are departing from life, let the ancient law and rule be observed even now, so that those who depart are not deprived of the last and most necessary parting words,” and then it is indicated what exactly this parting word consisted of: “let everyone departing, no matter who it is, who asks to partake of the Eucharist, with the test of the bishop, be taught the Holy Spirit. gifts." “If someone, having not fulfilled the time of repentance determined by the rules, departs from life, then the love of the Fathers commands that he may receive Holy Communion. secrets, and not without parting words he will be released on his last and far journey” (Grig. canon. epist. to Litoius, right. 7). You might be interested in: